Adjustable sun visors have been standard equipment on motor vehicles for many years. Generally, these visors were mounted to the upper interior surface of the vehicle by a mounting bracket, which secures the visor to the upper outside corner of the driver/passenger's compartment. Typically, visors may be pivoted from a lowered use position against the windshield to a side window if glare is entering the vehicle from the side. A problem exists when glare simultaneously enters from the windshield and the side window which traditional visors cannot accommodate.
Recently, visors have been developed to provide simultaneous protection against glare entering both the windshield and the side window. Three basic approaches have been utilized to overcome the problem of glare entering into the vehicle simultaneously from the windshield and the side window. The first such approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,021 to Van da Griff which discloses an adjustable sun visor attachment which is attachable to pre-existing visors of a vehicle. The adjustable visor is connected to the original visor which provides a second pivot around which a second visor pivots to prevent glare from the side window when original visor is lowered into the use position. Such a configuration requires an after-market addition to the original visor.
A second approach taken to provide simultaneous protection from glare entering the vehicle through the windshield and the side window is to provide a mounting bracket from which extends two separate pivot shafts, each of which contains a separate visor. Examples of such an approach are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,416 to Dryden; 3,556,585 to Binder; 4,521,047 to Saxman; 4,666,205 to Nakagawa; 4,762,359 to Boerema et al.; 4,858,982 to Dykstra et al.; 4,921,300 to Lawassani et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,681,363, 4,783,111, 4,925,232, 5,071,186, and 5,080,420 all to Hemmeke et al. These configurations require two pivot shafts to be secured to the mounting bracket.
An alternative approach which has been utilized in attempt to solve the above-referenced problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,991 to Lystad which discloses a pivot mount attached to a vehicle pillar disposed between the windshield and the side window. Two separate blades pivot upward about the pivot mount to a use position respectively located adjacent the windshield and the side window. Once in this position, each blade is affixed to releasable fixing members located along the headliner of the windshield and side window respectively. In this configuration, the blade covering the windshield is incapable of pivoting about an axis generally parallel with the headliner of the windshield.
A related approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,825 to DeLyra. DeLyra teaches of a smaller second blade which pivots about the pivot shaft of the pre-existing visor to provide limited partial protection in the corner between the side window and the windshield. In this configuration, the second blade does not provide adequate protection from glare entering from the side window.
The present invention incorporates many of the known benefits of dual visor designs for a vehicle while improving the visor system utilized to obtain simultaneous glare protection for the windshield and side window.